


All the World's a Storm

by Akatereasons02



Series: ATWAS verse [1]
Category: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
Genre: ADHD, Fatherhood, Gen, Kid Fic, Panic Attacks, Parenting ADHD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-13 15:09:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29902974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akatereasons02/pseuds/Akatereasons02
Summary: Henry and Alex's daughter Catherine has made it to eleven years old with undiagnosed ADHD. This is the story of her diagnosis and treatment. And some CDFMW family fun along the way.CONTENT WARNING: this story contains first hand descriptions of panic attacks and bullying, Please dont read this if those are not emotionally healthy for you to be viewing
Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor
Series: ATWAS verse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2205495
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	1. BS Spelling Words

Eleven year old Katherine let her head fall against his desk. It was so unfair! What did she ever do to deserve this? How the hell was writing out all twenty of the words for her next spelling test going to help with fucking anything? It’s not like she was going to bloody remember any of them after tomorrow’s quiz anyway! THIS! IS! TORTURE! What’s the fucking point!

She took a deep breath, stood up, paced one lap to her door and back, then sat back down to glare at her paper. Her legs were stiff. Her back hurt from slouching. Her wrist hurt from writing. Ugghh! ALL of her muscles felt like they wanted out of her body! 

Her Dad made her do this _every single damn day!_ Her Papa didn’t care, he was the fun, emotionally supportive parent! They could talk politics for hours on end, just going on tangents about what they currently found most fascinating. But not her Dad? Nope! He and his stupid English Professor self had to make sure she got perfect grades. It didn’t matter that she tried really fucking hard and was never able to measure up to what her older siblings had done at her age! Or that she was still in junior high and grades didn’t really matter for two more years anyway. He had already been on his way to Eton at her age, with their rigorous academic standards and stupid looking uniforms! He didn’t care how hard she tried. It didn’t matter so long as she kept bringing home Cs and Ds on every assignment but her tests. Those she could bring home As on, which was just enough to keep her over all grades high enough to keep her from getting kicked off the cast of this year’s school play. Except for the weekly spelling quiz in her stupid literature class. She consistently got 60% or lower on those, which baffled her fathers to no end, considering she could use the word _actually_ correctly by age two.

Kate rolled her head around once, trying as hard as she could to bring her train of thought back in from its tangent. Too caught up in the emotions of the moment, she sized the papers she had been scribbling on, for going on four hours now, tore them to quarters and tossed them in the bin next to her desk. Screw it! She would just have to tell her dads she did it. Maybe if she helped her Papa cook dinner, she could score enough brownie points for them to buy it.

The next morning at the breakfast table that all blew up in her face. It was a standard school day. Papa had driven the twins to their fancy school in the city on the way into the office. That left her to fend for herself with her dad over oatmeal and spelling words. Her dad always insisted on “quizzing” her on them over breakfast. He called it quizzing. To her it felt more like the interrogation scenes from her grandfather’s old spy movies. The ones that her dads didn’t know the twins and her uncle pip had let her watch last summer. She thought that they were boring as all hell but that is a whole tangent on its own.

Kate zoned out, pushing her oats around her bowl while her dad droned on about something one of his students wrote. She supposed he thought it was funny, but she sort of missed the punch line. He must of noticed that she wasn’t paying attention because he picked that moment to drive the nail further down, “So are you ready for this week’s spelling quiz in lit class?”

She felt her entire being tense, _Hell No!_ “As much as I will be,” it was the truth, but ambiguous enough to for him not to get the hint to back off. 

“Would you like me to go back over them while we eat?” No she really didn’t. Was it really too much to ask for her to be able to eat her breakfast in peace for once? And great! She was now getting the beginning of a guilt headache. She let out a huff of air through her nose. She knows she was lucky to have parents who cared. She knows that her dad wouldn’t help her study if he didn’t. She’s met the kids her father works with at the shelter. She knows she has a good life. She knows in her soul that both of her fathers love her. But, even though she logically understands all of these things, they somehow don’t translate into emotion. She doesn’t feel supported when her dad insists that she study the way he thinks works. She doesn’t feel loved when her school sends out grade reports, directly to her dads’ emails, and she gets lectured for an hour about how she should be able to do better. She feels all of the hurt and disappointment and stupidity at an eleven and their so called support at like a negative five. It just makes her want to cry _all the time_. “I guess,” she finally forces out, knowing that if she tries to avoid this, he’s just going to ask questions which will make all of those negative feelings jump from their normal eleven up to a fifteen which is dangerously close to break down territory.

While staring into her breakfast, Kate missed the concerned crease that appeared in her dad’s brow. Henry makes a mental not to bring this interaction up to Alex later, but forged ahead none the less.

“Alright so lets start with the word _pheasant_ ,” her dad prodded. _Shit,_ that was Kate’s worst word this week and her dad knew it. Hell, she had complained about the name of those stupid little birds so much that her entire extended family probably knew it, including her Nana, the current _Queen of England_! 

She tilted her head back and squeezed her eyes shut, pushing her breakfast away. So much for having a decent appetite for once. _Was it an F at the beginning? How did it end, E-n-t?_ Kate reached into the recesses of her memory but was met with the static of an out of range radio. When she opened her mouth to spell the word, her emotions once again ran away from her. “This is bull shit, you know that right?” she said voice flat, looking her father dead in the eye, in a way she thought would give him no room to argue. His mouth dropped open, shocked and frozen. She took that moment to flee. “You know I think I’ll walk to school today, thanks for the breakfast.”

And before her dad could respond she was out of her chair, across the house and slamming the front door behind her. She didn’t even make it to the end of the block before she felt the tears running down her face. She needed to be able to find her breath in the five blocks between her house and her junior high.

Back at the kitchen table, Henry was broken out of his shock by the sound of the door slamming. He pulled out his phone to texting Alex _I think you should come home for the day, somethings up with Kate._ Then he stood and ran after his daughter, hoping to catch up with her before she got to school. He wanted to offer to let her stay home for the day but didn’t want to do it in front of her classmates.


	2. So that happend, Now What?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For reference: Benjamin and Oliver are H&A's 15yo twin sons. They go to separate private high schools in Manhattan. For the sake of simplicity at the moment, personality wise Ben is Basically Henry and Olly is basically Alex

HRH Prince Hubby Dickhead

_I think you should come home for the day, somethings up with Kate_

Is she alright???

Did she catch that stomach bug the school sent home the letter about???

_I have absolutely no bloody clue_

_She just ripped my head off over me asking her how to spell the word Pheasant_

_And then ran out and slammed the front door_

Shit, fuck, and damn.

Alex exhaled sharply and rested his head against his desk for a moment. He really should have seen the signs earlier. Out of his three children, only Kate was genetically related to him. He knew neurodivergence was related to genetics. He had promised himself, when Kate was born, that he would not let her go through life undiagnosed. He remembered the hell it was to be an undiagnosed teenager with ADHD. And now at eleven, his poor baby girl was going through the same thing. Alex knew how Kate got when Henry tried to help her with school work. The way she never stayed in one position for very long. The way she would stare across the room in different directions in the way he did when his mind would wander. He had been trying to keep an eye on her for it, but nothing ever seemed off to him. He loved Henry dearly, but he could be a bit oblivious to it. Neither of their twins, Benjamin and Oliver, had shown signs. They were Henry’s, so that was to be expected. For all of his mental health struggles, his beloved Henry was still neurotypical. The Royals had had him CT scanned when he started seeing his therapist at nineteen.

Alex had to actively try not to blame himself. The moment he had read that text from his husband, his chest got tight and a tension headache started to form. He had been so angry with his parents when he figured out exactly how much of what he went through as a kid with his disorder. More than a decade of running himself in circles just trying to get by. Putting in more effort than most adults do their jobs, just to get through the fifth grade. If his baby was going through the same thing he had, it was likely that Katy had been having a panic attack. _At fucking eleven!_ Alex knew that there wasn’t such a thing as too young to be affected by mental health. But his baby was eleven! She should still be watching My Little Pony and making Henry wear feather boas to tea parties.

Alex’s brain would be running full speed towards his own panic attack if he didn’t pull it back together quick. He grabbed a post-it and scribbled down a quick list of what he would need to do to be able to help his little girl.

  * Pass off current immigration case to second chair
  * Tell family that they were being passed off
  * See if June could take the twins for the night
  * Tell the boys they were going to June’s
  * Check in with Hen
  * Pick up Katy’s favorite pizza



He fired off an email to his second chair, citing a family emergency as his reason for needing coverage. Emily the sweetheart she is, answers withing five minutes, telling him to send Kate her love, and having already contacted the family they were representing and their boss. Next he shot a text to June.

Buggy Bug

Hey Bug do you have plans tonight??

No

Why?

Let me guess you and Prince Charming need the house to yourselves tonight?

Uhh not quite

Can you take the twins for the night?

Kate could prob use some space tonight

Oh

Is she OK

Not sure

Ill keep u in the loop

Anyway you could pick them up from school?

Got you

Ill postmates Kate some ice cream

Thanks Bug

Alex truly loved his sister. She was the best aunt he ever could have asked for Kate and the twins. So much so that he stopped what he was doing to put a calendar reminder in his phone to get her a nice gift basket when Mother’s Day rolled around. Next the Boys:

Two Gay Icons and Their Sons

Hey boys

Aunt June is picking you up from school

B: **Will she be making us Spaghetti-O’s and tucking us in at five too?**

O: Do you and dad need alone time?

B: **God Olls why do you have to be gross?**

Alex rolls his eyes at that one. One of your children catches you making out in the kitchen ONE time, their hormonal brain runs off with it, the whole family hears about it, and (at least in a house where sexuality has never been a taboo topic) you NEVER hear the end of it!

Cool your jets Ben

NO!

And for the record, Oliver, that isn't any of your business

your sister just needs some space tonight

O: Is she alright?

B **: Did something happen?**

She isn't hurt

Alright is TBD

O: what the fuck is that supposed to mean

H: _Language young man_

O: Sorry Dad

It means that I don't have all of the details yet

O: Send her love and hugs from us alright?

B: **How do you not have the details; first bell hasn’t even rung at her school?????**

I don’t have details because your dad is the one home with her

Now stop texting and pay attention in class!

H _: And leave your sister be for now_

_She doesn’t need your prodding right now_

Alex shut off his notifications for their Just the Boys group chat. He knows his sons will keep blowing it up until they get solid answers. For as much as they fought over things like shower time and pizza toppings, his kids really cared about each other. And his sons were really over protective of their baby sister. Henry was dreading the day she got a partner, and the subsequent conversation they would have to have with the boys about respecting Kate’s bodily autonomy. And now on to just Henry:

HRH Prince Hubby Dickhead

Did she end up going to school?

_She was leaving when I sent you that first text_

_I found her crying on the sidewalk_

Is she staying home today?

_Yeah_

_When I found her she was borderline hyperventilating_

_Alex I feel so guilty_

_I did this to our baby_

_When did I turn into my gran?_

Oh my fucking god

Babe DO NOT go there

You are NOT anything like that wretched old bitch

Henry, this does not make you a bad father

You love our kids

That’s what matters

_Thank you darling_

_I gave her half of one of your diazepam to calm her down_

_Now she’s back in bed_

Alright I’ll be home soon

I love you

_Love you too_

_Btw I left Shantai at the shelter a voicemail_

That’s good

I’m picking up pizza

Shantai was the shelter’s resident gender and sexuality therapist. Alex’s shoulders dropped as the tension fell out of them. Alex knew that voicemail was for therapist recommendations. He was relieved that Hen was trying. He just prayed that it would work.

Alex shoved what he would need to do case research from home into his backpack and booked it out of the office. He felt bad for blowing past the intern who was trying to ask him a question, but he honestly didn’t feel he had the time to deal with them right now. Once he got in the elevator, Alex tore off his tie, not being able to stand the feeling of it around his neck anymore. With the hand that wasn’t stuffing his tie in his bag, he shot off a text ordering a cheese and black olive pie from Mama Leoni’s Pizzeria. He tossed on an order of garlic knots and a piece of tiramisu, which Kate only got as a special treat when her brothers weren’t around to either steal them, or more often than not, mock her tastes in cheese-less bread.


End file.
